There's a gem of a theater in Dallas, Texas. It's called the
Greer Garson Theater. It was named after the movie star who donated the $6
million to have it built. It's used by people who want to become actors,
directors and designers.
It has a classic open stage design, with a single balcony. It has 350 seats,
and not one is farther than 33 feet from the stage. It is Brian Arnott's
favorite design ever. He is a facility designer.
"It's truly magical in terms of the intimacy between the actors and
the audience," Arnott says. This is high praise, especially since he's
been in the field for nearly 30 years and been involved in the design of about
55 buildings!
The way he talks about the Greer Garson Theater, it's almost like
the building is alive. And it is, in a way.
"This is the litmus test of a theater: when you're sitting in the
seat with the actors on the stage, how does it feel?"
To Arnott, it feels like the most exciting building ever!
Arnott has a passion for buildings, especially theaters. In the business,
these buildings are called "assembly occupancy" buildings. In other words,
there is an assembly of people inside, such as in a theater or
church.
He graduated from university in 1970 with an MA in theater design. He moved
to England, working in a professional theater there. During those years, he
worked in a lot of different buildings.
"I got some exposure to the architecture of the performing arts, in particular,
with its limits," he says. In other words, he learned what made a good building
and what didn't.
When he returned to North America, he put his expertise to work. He was
doing some writing and designing work when he thought that he should become
a theater design consultant. After all, he had lots of experience. He made
his presence known, and began working with various clients.
He learned more and more as he went along. Today, his facility design firm
employs eight people, including an engineer and an architect. Together, everyone
at the firm plays a part in designing the best buildings possible.
For example, Arnott might be involved before a single design is drawn.
He may offer advice on what type of building is needed. Or he may make suggestions
on marketing.
He may even prepare a brief to be given to the architect. This is called
a "building program." This brief outlines things like building criteria, goals
and objectives. It answers important questions the architect needs answers
to before a design is started.
Arnott may also be involved during the design of a building. His expertise
is wide-ranging, and he may consult on everything from the overall design
to what type of drapes get hung in front of the stage!
In other cases, he and his people may design the building.
"It will essentially be our building and we'll give it to an architect
to do the construction plans. The design will be already drawn. They will
draw it with a higher level of detail," he says.
As you can see, a facility designer has a key role. Their influence may
touch everything about a building. It's hard to point at something in
a building and say, "that's what I did." What Arnott can say is that
he and his firm may be responsible for up to 25 percent of the cost of a building.
Facilities design is a complex task. At least, that's the point of
view of Nancy Doyle, a facility designer in Washington, D.C.
"Not only do I have to have a good plan in mind, I also have to be able
to explain my two-dimensional drawing to my client to make sure he or she
understands what I'm doing," she says.
This is not an easy task. As an architect, she knows clients may not see
things the same way as she does.
"The most challenging part is making sure the client really knows what
they're getting. We can imagine what the space will look like, but sometimes
it's hard for a user to understand what the two-dimensional drawing will
look like when it's built."
Doyle enjoys the challenges of being a facility designer. She likes working
with other professionals and having more of a say in the final design.
Of all the projects Doyle has worked on, she enjoys designing medical facilities
most.
"I've worked at some smaller firms doing residential and commercial
design, but I really enjoy the challenge of medical design," she says. "Every
job is different. Every medical facility has its own way of operating."
When Doyle gets a request from a client for a new facility, she has to
consider how the facility will fit in with other buildings and how much it's
all going to cost. She also has to keep in mind the needs of the people who
will use the facility and what types of equipment are going to be used.
"My designs aren't much good if they don't take into account
the equipment used in the facility," Doyle explains. "For example, we could
have a real problem if hospital doorways aren't big enough to get the
equipment through."
Considerations like these also mean consulting with engineers to determine
things like ventilation, electrical supply, lighting, waste disposal and other
complicated issues.
"We always start with user meetings, which involve a representative from
each department, and we continue to meet throughout the process," says Doyle.
"We talk about how their particular department functions and what their needs
are."
Doyle also has to look at the big picture with the administrators of the
facility. "We meet to talk about their needs for the present and what they
think their needs will be for the future."
Once the needs of the client are addressed, the design process begins.
The first step is to figure out how different departments are going to relate
to one another.
"We do block diagrams to show how different departments will relate to
each other. For example, where will the laundry be in relation to everything
else?"
From there, Doyle and her team figure out how many rooms will be needed
in each department. Then it's on to things like electrical and gas supply.
"This phase is called design development and it's where we develop
each room for things like the number of electrical, gas and communication
outlets, the room's location, the size of the door, where specific medical
equipment will be," says Doyle. After the design development, it's on
to the construction phase, where they begin by detailing the building.
Considering all the different people Doyle works with and the variety of
issues involved in each project, it's not surprising to hear there's
rarely a boring day in her job.
"One of the things I like about medical design is there are very few typical
days," she says. "There's lots of variety in meetings, drawing up plans
and working with equipment planners and engineers."
Doyle says all the hard work and planning pays off when she sees the finished
building. It's especially rewarding when she sees a really complicated
project completed -- like the one that was finished recently in Fisherville,
Virginia.
"The project was a merger of two community hospitals into a completely
new medical facility. We worked with more people than usual on this one since
both hospitals had to be represented," says Doyle. She admits it was a challenge
getting two hospitals that operated in different ways to come together on
one plan.
"It definitely was a challenge to combine the two, but we ended up with
a very nice hospital," she says.
Doyle sees lots of challenges ahead in dealing with the steady advances
being made in medical technology. "Medical equipment is constantly being developed
and refined. We need to keep in touch with this to know what the latest equipment
and operating techniques are, and know how to provide a suitable facility
for these," she points out.
Doyle sees every new facility as a fresh challenge and an opportunity to
make things run better. It's a combination of technical skill, common
sense and communication skills that make facility designers so valuable to
communities.
"It's definitely a challenge, but the reward comes in helping a hospital
or medical facility to run more efficiently."